Storm Heads to China, Vietnam as Philippine Death Toll Rises

Lenlen Medrano and her child are transported across a surging river on a zip line in the town of New Bataan, Compostela province, the Philippines, on Dec. 6, 2012. Photographer: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Storm Bopha headed toward southern
China and Vietnam after killing at least 456 people in the
Philippines, the deadliest cyclone to hit the southeast Asian
nation this year.

Bopha, known locally as Pablo, triggered landslides and
damaged thousands of homes in coastal and mining towns in the
southern island of Mindanao, the region that was battered a year
ago by the deadliest cyclone since 2008. The number of missing
people rose to 533, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Monitoring Council said in a 4 p.m. report today.

“If Bopha continues with its north-northwest path, it
appears headed to southern China or Vietnam,” state weather
forecaster Samuel Duran said by phone today. The storm may gain
strength as it crosses the South China Sea, he said.

The Philippine government has faced criticism of its
response to tropical storms that form over the Pacific Ocean and
lash the nation at the same time each year. In December 2011,
Storm Washi killed more than 1,200 people, mostly in Mindanao.
In September 2009, Storm Ketsana flooded Manila and parts of
Luzon, killing more than 400 people, while monsoon rains flooded
half of the Manila region in August.

“The government won’t stop in seeking to improve your
lives and prevent calamities,” President Benigno Aquino said
today in Compostela Valley in Mindanao, where he distributed
relief goods. “This isn’t the time to talk, this is the time to
work.”

State of Calamity

Aquino will declare a state of calamity when he returns to
Manila, allowing the government to fix prices of basic goods and
local authorities to tap emergency funds, Communications
Secretary Ricky Carandang said on his official Twitter page. The
information was later confirmed by Aquino’s spokeswoman Abigail
Valte.

Only 73 of the people killed in the storm have been
identified, the disaster agency said in its 5 a.m. report.

Aquino asked mayors and governors on Dec. 5 if there was
something the government could have done to prevent casualties.
His civil defense chief, Benito Ramos, said before Bopha hit
that the nation was “very prepared,” having warned residents
in the storm’s path five days in advance.

Bopha packed winds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour
and gusts of 210 kilometers per hour when it reached the
Philippines on Dec. 4. Wind speeds slowed to 110 kilometers per
hour and gusts weakened to 140 kilometers per hour as of 4 a.m.
today, according to the state weather agency.

Evacuation Centers

More than 213,000 people are in evacuation centers as
28,587 homes were damaged, the disaster agency said in its
latest bulletin. The storm caused 4 billion pesos ($98 million)
of damage, mostly to agriculture, it said. Several bridges and
roads aren’t passable, while some parts of Mindanao are still
without electricity and water, it said.

Farm damage was initially estimated at 800 million pesos,
with coconut and banana plantations the hardest hit, Agriculture
Secretary Proceso Alcala said yesterday. Damage to rice and corn
crops was minimal because they had just been planted, he said.

Fatalities from Washi in 2011 surpassed the combined death
toll of 929 from the Ketsana and Parma storms in 2009, which
caused more than 38 billion pesos of damage.

Apex Mining Co. may resume production at its gold and
copper mining plant in Compostela Valley in four to five days
using back-up power generators, it said in a statement to the
stock exchange today.